Pages

June 19, 2011

Midsummer Fire Festival 2011

A fiery halo! That makes the whole festival worth it, in my book.

There hasn’t been a post on this blog for a while now. I will apologise for the break – I’ve been powerlevelling a holy paladin for my guild and after some drama we’re back into raiding, so time has been shorter lately. The good news is that the paladin is 85 & gearing up, and we’re 7/12 in three weeks!

So the sun is out, the shops are full of summer goods and I’m drinking way too much lemonade. More importantly, the Midsummer Fire Festival is starting on 21st June and I’m getting fired up for the bonfire bonanza! In case it’ll help you get one meta closer to What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, here’s my guide. I’ll be updating everything as I do it, although I’m going to Glastonbury this year so I’ll have to work super hard to complete this when I get back!

Update: I used the 2011 Wowhead guide co-ordinates to get me started, so the location credit goes to them. However, ~6 were wrong where updates are still being made to their data, so these co-ordinates are ones I've visited and double-checked myself! My route is from an Alliance perspective so may not be as convenient for Horde players - sorry!

Eastern Kingdoms:

Zone

A/H/N

Location

Co-ordinates

The Cape of Stranglethorn

A

East of Booty Bay

51, 67

The Cape of Stranglethorn

H

East of Booty Bay

50, 70

Northern Stranglethorn

A

Fort Livingston

51, 63

Northern Stranglethorn

H

Grom’gol Base Camp

40, 51

Westfall

A

Moonbrook

45, 62

Duskwood

A

Darkshire

73, 55

Blasted Lands

A

Nethergarde Keep

55, 15

Blasted Lands

H

Dreadmaul Hold

46, 14

Swamp of Sorrows

A

Bogpaddle

70, 14

Swamp of Sorrows

H

Bogpaddle

76, 14

Redridge Mountains

A

Lakeshire

24, 53

Burning Steppes

A

Morgan’s Vigil

68, 60

Burning Steppes

H

Flame Crest

51, 29

Badlands

A

Dragon’s Mouth

19, 56

Badlands

H

New Kargath

24, 37

Loch Modan

A

Thelsamar

32, 40

Dun Morogh

A

Kharanos

54, 45

Wetlands

A

Menethil Harbor

13, 47

Twilight Highlands

A

Thundermar

47, 28

Twilight Highlands

H

Bloodgulch

53, 46

Arathi Highlands

A

Refuge Pointe

44, 46

Arathi Highlands

H

Hammerfall

69, 42

Hinterlands

H

Revantusk Village

76, 74

Hinterlands

A

Aerie Peak

14, 50

Hillsbrad Foothills

H

Tarren Mill

55, 50

The Sepulcher

H

Silverpine Forest

50, 39

Tirisfal Glades

H

The Undercity

68, 9

Tirisfal Glades

H

Brill

57, 52

Western Plaguelands

A

Chillwind Camp

43, 82

Ghostlands

H

Tranquilien

46, 26

Eversong Woods

H

North Sanctum

46, 50

Eversong Woods

H

Silvermoon City (Court of the Sun)

70, 43

Kalimdor:

Zone

A/H/N

Location

Co-ordinates

Bloodmyst Isle

A

Blood Watch

55, 69

Azuremyst Isle

A

Azure Watch

44, 53

Teldrassil

A

Dolanaar

55, 53

Darkshore

A

Lor’danel

49, 23

Winterspring

A

Everlook

61, 47

Winterspring

H

Everlook

58, 47

Mount Hyjal

N

Nordrassil

63, 23

Azshara

H

Bilgewater Harbor

60, 53

Durotar

H

Orgrimmar (Valley of Wisdom)

47, 38

Durotar

H

Razor Hill

52, 47

Northern Barrens

H

The Crossroads

50, 55

Ashenvale

H

Silverwind Refuge

51, 66

Ashenvale

A

Forest Song

87, 42

Stonetalon Mountains

A

Mirkfallon Lake

49, 51

Stonetalon Mountains

H

Sun Rock Retreat

53, 62

Desolace

A

Nijel’s Point

65, 17

Desolace

H

Shadowprey Village

26, 76

Mulgore

H

Thunder Bluff (Spirit Rise)

21, 26

Mulgore

H

Bloodhoof Village

52, 59

Feralas

H

Camp Mojache

72, 47

Feralas

A

Feathermoon Stronghold

47, 44

Southern Barrens

A

Fort Triumph

48, 72

Southern Barrens

H

Desolation Hold

41, 68

Dustwallow Marsh

H

Brackenwell Village

33, 30

Dustwallow Marsh

A

Theramore Isle

62, 40

Tanaris

A

Gadgetzan

52, 29

Tanaris

H

Gadgetzan

49, 27

Un’Goro Crater

A

Marshal’s Stand

60, 63

Un’Goro Crater

H

Marshal’s Stand

56, 66

Silithus

A

Cenarion Hold

60, 33

Silithus

H

Cenarion Hold

51, 41

Outland:

Zone

A/H/N

Location

Co-ordinates

Hellfire Peninsula

H

Thrallmar

57, 41

Hellfire Peninsula

A

Honor Hold

62, 58

Shadowmoon Valley

A

Wildhammer Stronghold

40, 55

Shadowmoon Valley

H

Shadowmoon Village

33, 30

Terokkar Forest

A

Allerian Stronghold

55, 55

Terokkar Forest

H

Stonebreaker Hold

52, 43

Nagrand

A

Telaar

50, 70

Nagrand

H

Garadar

51, 34

Zangarmarsh

H

Zabra’jin

36, 52

Zangarmarsh

A

Telredor

69, 52

Blade’s Edge Mountains

A

Sylvanaar

42, 66

Blade’s Edge Mountains

H

Thunderlord Stronghold

50, 59

Netherstorm

A

Area 52

31, 63

Netherstorm

H

Area 52

32, 68

There are 3 new Earthen Ring bonfires which are neutral and award 15 Burning Blossoms. One is in Mount Hyjal and is part of the Eastern Kingdoms route above. The other two are in:
Vashj'ir, Silver Tide Hollow (49, 42)
Deepholm, Temple of Earth (49, 51)

I've found some bonfires in my travels that aren't part of the achievements but will still give the same rewards. These were in:
Elwynn Forest, Goldshire
Tirisfal Glades, The Bulwark
Uldum, Ramkahen (one for each faction)

There may be others! Let me know if you find any.

Northrend: These aren’t part of any achievements but will get you extra experience/gold/blossoms.

Zone

A/H/N

Location

Co-ordinates

Borean Tundra

A

Fizzcrank Airstrip

55, 20

Borean Tundra

H

Bor'gorok Outpost

51, 12

Sholazar Basin

A

River's Heart

47, 66

Sholazar Basin

H

River's Heart

47, 62

Dragonblight

H

Agmar's Hammer

39, 48

Dragonblight

A

Wintergarde Keep

75, 44

Crystalsong Forest

A

Windrunner's Overlook

78, 75

Crystalsong Forest

H

Sunreaver's Command

80, 53

The Storm Peaks

A

K3

42, 87

The Storm Peaks

H

K3

40, 86

Zul'Drak

A

The Argent Stand

41, 61

Zul'Drak

H

The Argent Stand

43, 71

Grizzly Hills

A

Amberpine Lodge

34, 61

Grizzly Hills

H

Conquest Hold

19, 61

Howling Fjord

A

Fort Wildervar

58, 16

Howling Fjord

H

Camp Winterhoof

48, 13

Ice the Frost Lord

You will need to be 84+ to queue for this holiday boss via the LFD finder. The first time you defeat Ahune each day you will get a Satchel of Chilled Goods, which will reward a guaranteed 24 justice points and a chance at:

The first time you defeat this boss you should receive Shard of Ahune, which starts a quest rewarding one of two tabards. It seems that players who completed this quest before 2009 will not see this item drop, but you can restore the tabard at a tabard vendor if you’ve deleted it (these can be found in the Visitor’s Centre of most cities).CONFIRMED: It is possible to choose one tabard, equip it, delete it and then restore the other option at the tabard NPC. Once you have equipped that, both will count towards the 25 Tabards achievement! I have just done this successfully :D so delete with an easy mind!

King of the Fire Festival

You get this achievement by completing the quest A Thief’s Reward. This involves (you already guessed this was coming, I’m sure) going into each of the 4 enemy capitals and stealing their flames. I know you’re too awesome to be put off by that though. Old World Flying will make this much easier than in previous years so find their fire, fly straight down and steal the flames.

You might die, it's true, but as long as you take their precious flames, it matters not! If you do I'd advise taking the rez sickness, going to find yourself some pie to eat and doing the next one later. I’ll probably do mine early in the morning (6-7am) before work. Pie is a valid breakfast food too, you know.

Burning Hot Pole Dance [requires 400 Burning Blossoms]

For this achievement you need the completed Midsummer Set. This will set you back 400 Burning Blossoms, so get honouring/desecrating those fires! Luckily you’ll be doing that anyway if you want the holiday meta. The good news is that you can collect ~800 blossoms during the holiday so it’ll definitely be possible to buy all 3 parts. Equip them and dance round a ribbon pole for 60 seconds. Voila!

The most sensible-sounding tip I’ve found is to set your camera distance to maximum (type /console cameraDistanceMax 50 into your chat window) and point it downwards in ‘never adjust’ mode. Follow the shadow and be underneath it when it lands. This is really hard, and took me a lot of tries (plus some generous cussing). The first torch will always go straight behind you and quite a few yards, but torches 2-4 won't go far - the trick is spotting which way they go and getting there in time!

So, you've done the quests and you’re ready to go! A little bit of research on the interwebs has turned up the following strategy for this achievement:

Find a minimal-lag spot in Dalaran. Point the camera straight down, zoomed out. Bind the torches to a hotkey and target the ground under your feet. You should be able to alternate hotkey-click-hotkey-click, catching each torch as it lands.

UPDATE: Use the Purple Parlor!I never got below 11 torches out of 20 in my bags, so try everything with 10 first. This is down to lag, ultimately. I found that consciously alternating key-click-key-click made the process too slow. In the end, I just hit hotkey and clicked at the same time, as fast as possible! So try that first, ok? Because you don't want the air at your desk to be as blue as mine was before I thought of doing that...
They reappear in your bags when caught so many report doing this with as few as 10 torches and I think that would be possible. You earn 5 by doing the Torch Catching quest and stacks of 5 torches can be bought for 5 Burning Blossoms. Don't forget that you should have 20 from the Shards of Ahune quest too! (These didn't drop for me - let me know if they did for you). Alternatively you can buy them on the AH as they don’t become soulbound. Let me know how many you needed to do it! I suspect I'll need the full 40 ^.^ (thankfully not!)

That's it! Hopefully you found something helpful in here if you were working towards any of this meta. As always, corrections/suggestions/general comments are welcome and will be edited in as soon as I can!

I'm so glad they upgraded the gear from the boss this year - I'm done with the achievements (unless I want to start on an alt, and I must admit I feel too lazy!) but I definitely want some of the gear for alts.

The pet is something that's eluded me every year. I hope this year it will finally drop!

Tough Love(Love is in the air achieve) was lvl 84+ this year to queu for, but it wasn't required to get the whole achievement. I just saw that Ice the Frost Lord is required for the whole achievement, so I really don't hope it is 84+ or I've to lvl up my alts fast the comming days...

I got the full achieve with all my chars. That's 6x times flying around whole Azeroth/Outland, but also did Northrends, and still with the slowest mount speed(150%). That was really the most boring part!

Then I still had to lvl up my chars till 84 so I could queue for Ahune. lvl 77, 75 and 80... :p

Didn't expect I would make it, but now I really can't see a thing of WoW anymore, lol